World Championships Rapid and Blitz: Humpy becomes world rapid champion for 2nd time

Grandmaster Koneru Humpy capped a wonderful year for Indian chess, defeating Irene Sukandar of Indonesia to emerge the women’s world rapid chess champion here on Sunday.

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India No. 1 Humpy, who had first won the event back in 2019, is only the second player after China’s Ju Wenjun to clinch the title more than once. Humpy’s achievement laced a sensational year for the chess fraternity after D Gukesh defeated China’s Ding Liren to emerge champion in the classical format World Championship recently. In September, India had also won its first-ever gold medals in the open and women’s categories in the Chess Olympiad.

The Indian, who started the tournament here with a first-round defeat, was the lone winner in the 11th and final round. She topped the table with 8.5 points, half a point clear of six others including compatriot D Harika.

“I’m very excited and happy. In fact, I expected it to be a very tough day, like some sort of tiebreak. But when I finished the game, the arbitrator told me (about winning), and it was a tense moment for me,” said Humpy. “So, this is quite unexpected because the whole year I have been struggling and I had very bad tournaments where I just ended up in last place. So, this came as a surprise,” she added.

Wenjun finished second as the tiebreak was resolved while Kateryna Lagno of Russia ended third. Harika, who had eight points, had to be content with a fifth-place finish.

Humpy credited her family for the success. “I think it was possible because of the support from my family. My husband and my parents… they support me a lot. My parents look after my daughter when I travel. It’s not easy to become a world champion at 37. It’s quite difficult when you get older to keep that motivation and stay sharp when required. I’m glad that I made it,” she said.

The seasoned player said she was motivated to do well after her first round defeat, which saw her eventually slipping to 2.5 points after four rounds. Humpy said her victory will now prompt other Indians to take up chess.

“I think it’s high time for India. We also have Gukesh as world champion and now I got the second world title in the rapid event. So, I think this will motivate a lot of youngsters to take up chess professionally,” she said.

Meanwhile, in the open section, 18-year-old Russian Grandmaster Volodar Murzin won the gold medal ahead of a star-studded field showing tremendous nerves.

The defining point for Murzin was his penultimate round game against R Praggnanandhaa wherein the latter had a winning position that slipped away because of a one-move blunder.

Turning the tables quickly, Murzin shot into sole lead after the 12th and penultimate round and then defended a slightly worse endgame to seal the victory with 10 points in all.

Russians Alexander Grischuk and Ian Nepomniachtchi finished second and third, respectively, both ending with 9.5 points.

Arjun Erigaisi scored 9 points and tied for the fourth spot with five others while Praggnanandhaa ended on 8.5 points. Aravindh Chithambaram finished with 8 points.